Credit

Lawmakers will return from their week-long Memorial Day recess this week right in the middle of a human scrum – hundreds of credit union executives crossing hundreds of retailers arguing over a key provision in the bank reform bill that would introduce government oversight of the market for cards interchange.

MasterCard Worldwide on June 3 introduced an application designed to enable cardholders with Apple Inc. iPhones to initiate person-to-person funds transfers between MasterCard accounts. But thus far just one U.S. banking company is supporting the service.

Credit card direct-mail solicitations from major issuers increased sharply during the first three months of this year, driven in part by a resurgence in rewards card and balance-transfer offers, according to new data Mintel Comperemedia released this month.

Visa Inc.'s rule on using only its clearing system for international transactions on dual-currency credit cards has existed for many years, and it applies for all Visa cobranded credit cards, Visa said in a statement to PaymentsSource.

Local governments, universities and charities in the United Kingdom may use First Data Corp. to manage their credit cards issued to employees now that the Atlanta-based company is an approved supplier to these types of organizations, First Data says.

Bus passengers in the United Arab Emirates city of Sharjah now may use smart cards to pay their fares, an official for the Sharjah Public Transport Corp. tells PaymentsSource.

China Mobile reportedly is delaying deployment of an RF-SIM contactless-payment technology based on a standalone 2.4-gighertz frequency and instead is adopting SIMpass, a contactless card that uses a 13.56-megahetz radio frequency and that is fully compatible with the widely accepted Near Field Communication standard.

A growing number of mobile payments companies are promoting systems that charge purchases to users' phone bills rather than credit or debit cards.

The final provisions of the Credit CARD Act take effect in August, but issuers are still in the dark about several key requirements that will affect how they calculate penalty fees.

American Express Co. has inked a deal in which China Merchants Bank will issue a new dual-currency AmEx credit card designed for Chinese travelers. The card will support transactions in both Chinese yuan and U.S. dollars.

Yespay International Ltd. this week announced plans to offer U.S. merchants assistance in upgrading their point-of-sale systems to accept EMV chip-and-PIN cards. In doing so, the London-based services provider hopes to reduce their exposure to fraud by alleviating the need for holders of chip cards from other countries to initiate transactions using signatures and the cards’ magnetic stripes.

Target Corp. on June 3 announced a new rewards program designed to drive more transactions to its branded payment cards. Customers paying with a Target credit or debit card will receive a 5% everyday discount at the point of sale on all purchases.

Visa Inc. is asking its member banks to stop using China UnionPay’s system to settle international transactions initiated with bankcards bearing both the Visa and UnionPay logos, China’s official state-owned newswire Xinhua reports.

Four out of five U.S. households with Internet access now bank online, suggest the results of a Fiserv Inc. survey released May 25.

Four out of five U.S. households with Internet access now bank online, suggest the results of a Fiserv Inc. survey released May 25.

MasterCard, one of just two stocks owned by credit unions, yesterday announced a major windfall for credit unions with the conversion of closely held Class B shares to commonly traded Class A shares.

A growing number of banks and technology companies are offering tools that can help corporations trim their travel and entertainment costs.

After undergoing several consumer pilots and tests with European banks, Visa Europe’s new CodeSure payment card is now available for commercial launch. The card provides cardholders additional security when making online purchases by generating single-use numeric codes.

Small-business credit card issuers may continue skirting provisions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act that went into effect earlier this year if regulators take the conclusions of a new Federal Reserve report to heart.

Mega Cabs Pvt. Ltd. plans to begin accepting credit card payments in its fleet of taxicabs in India later this month, an official from the New Delhi-based cab operator tells PaymentsSource.